High Court Finds Two U.K. Dailies in Contempt in Murder Trial Coverage

Levi Bellfield (Photo credit: Wikipedia)In HM Attorney General v. Associated Newspaper Ltd. & Anor [2012] EWHC 2029, the High Court of Justice found The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mail violated the Contempt of Court Act of 1981 (Ch. 49) in their coverage of the trial of Levi Bellfield for the murder of Milly Dowler, The Guardian (www.guardian.com.uk) reports.

Coverage of the trial of Bellfield for the murder of Dowler and attempted kidnapping of Rachel Cowles began in early May 2011. Bellfield, convicted of the murder of two women in 2008, was found guilty of killing Dowler by the jury on June 23, 2011. While the jury was still deliberating on the Cowles kidnapping charge, the Mail and Mirror published articles on June 24, 2011, containing information not previously presented to the jury, the High Court found.

Specifically, the Mail article concerned Bellfield's alleged murder of another woman and the drugging and raping of schoolgirls, while the Mirror wrote about Bellfield's alleged mistreatment of his ex-wife and a former girlfriend, as well as the purported rape of a disabled woman.

The High Court, in a judgment by Sir John Thomas,  found both papers' articles "seriously prejudicial" as had the trial judge, who cited the prejudicial nature of the articles in discharging the jury before it decided the kidnapping allegation.

Although the High Court's decision is consistent with the strict liability provision of the Contempt of Court Act, it is arguable whether a jury that already knew of Bellfield's 2008 homicides and itself had convicted him of Dowler's murder could be prejudicially influenced against him by the Mail and Mirror articles.

Aggregator Aggravated by U.K. High Court Ruling

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeNews aggregator Meltwater's clients must secure licenses from the Newspaper Licensing Authority("NLA"), England's High Court of Justice has ruled, according to an article in The Telegraph.

Lord Justice Jackson found that headlines could be viewed as copyrightable separate literary works, which means users of aggregation services such as Meltwater who charge for a service must pay for licenses, the Telegraph article reported. The decision, which accords copyright protection to online newspapers, is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, according to the Telegraph article.

Electric Carmaker Charges BBC with Libel & Malicious Falsehood

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIn Tesla Motors, Ltd. et al. v. BBC (Claim No. HQ11D01162), filed in the Queen's Bench Division of England's High Court of Justice this week, the maker of the electric Tesla Roadster sued popular program Top Gear for defamation and malicious falsehood over a Dec. 14, 2008, episode in which the vehicle allegedly didn't fare well in a series of tests.

As reported by Websites www.CrunchGear.com and www.gigaom.com and the carmaker's own Website, Tesla's 13-page Complaint specifically targets Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, along with executive producer Andrew Wilman and researcher Gavin Whitehead.  According to the Complaint, the defendant allegedly misrepresented the capabilities of the Roadster, including purportedly stating the vehicle had a 55-mile battery range, rather than the plaintiff's claimed 200-mile range; that Top Gear falsely claimed the brakes on a particular Roadster were broken; and that another tested vehicle alleged overheated, which the plaintiff denies. Tesla also claims footage showing a  Roadster being pushed into a hangar because it's power allegedly was drained also was untrue and actionable.

Clearly, the electric carmaker didn't get the kind of plug it was looking for from the BBC.